Orb
by Vanguard1219
Summary: After picking up the pieces of what was left of Cerberus's "Project Firewalker" Morgan Shepard's ground team bring back an ancient Prothean artifact, a mysterious metallic orb of unknown origins. The only question is what does it do, and is it dangerous?
1. Chapter 1

_This universe and all of it's characters are owned by Bioware__. They're just nice enough to let me play in it._

It sat there on the lab table, perfectly balanced despite being perfectly round. Its surface was reflective, even water-like, mimicking everything it saw in its surroundings around it on itself.

_Everything except for the people_, she thought. Curiously, she leaned on the lab table and closely looked at the orb, its surface appearing to stubbornly refuse to mirror her own face back at her. With a raised eyebrow she brought a hand up close to it, slowly moving it back and forth in the air around the object, trying to provoke some kind of response to her present.

"Please stop that. Unnecessary. Disrupts concentration. Accomplishes nothing."

Morgan Shepard's ice blue eyes darted up from the mysterious orb to look at the salarian scientist, his attention focused on the screen of his terminal and the readings that were cascading across it. He took in a short breath, as he often did after speaking, before looking up to meet her gaze.

"Slightly annoying as well."

Morgan stood up strait, her eyes darting back to the object before she locked eyes with Mordin. "Sorry, but have you noticed that this thing is reflecting everything in the room except for everyone that's in it?"

"Yes, most intriguing," Mordin began as he started to pace from one end of his lab station to another. "Material appears metalloid, yet has water like consistency on surface. Still solid on surface despite suggested liquid consistency. Inability to reflect organics on surface inconsistent to naturally occurring specular-wave phenomena. Suggests that object is not mirroring its surrounding naturally. Reasons why are unclear. Perhaps engineered only to reflect image of Protheans. Seems pointless if that's the case. No crucial need to do so. Unless- "

"Mordin!" The salarian had a habit of speaking his thoughts aloud when he was trying to figure something out. It was a charming character trait, so Morgan made a habit of trying not to interrupt him. Still, it had been a long day, so at the moment she was making an exception. "Do you have any idea what this thing does? _At all_?"

Morgan Shepard stood in the _Normandy's_ tech lab, intently watching as Mordin continued to pace back and forth, thinking intently before he gave an answer. It had only been a little over an hour since she had returned with her ground team from the surface of Kopis. The scientists that she had gone on a wild goose chase to track down, Cayce and O'Loy, were both dead; the former killing the latter before he himself was slaughtered by the geth along with a host of Blue Suns mercs he hired to protect him. All of that death was for the object that lay in front of her on Mordin's lab table. An ancient Prothean artifact, a relic left over from another time far off in the past.

_And they had no idea what the hell the thing even does_, she thought in annoyance.

Shepard's ground team stood with her in the Tech Lab, eagerly awaiting Mordin's analysis of their find. Tali'Zorah stood close to the head of the lab table, idly wringing her hands as per her usual idiom when she was bored. Garrus leaned against the opposite wall near the door with his arms folded across his chest, his eyes watching everyone intently. The new toy they had acquired only days before, the "Hammerhead" as Cerberus had called it, wasn't exactly designed with turians in mind and had about as much space inside of it as a sardine can. Bracing himself against the wall helped alleviate the stiffness in his back _some_, which was enough.

After a brief moment alone in his thoughts, which equated to lord knows how long in human terms, Mordin stopped pacing and looked at Shepard. "Artifact currently gives off no unique readings. Oddly resistant to scans, as well. May need more time to examine."

"I'm surprised you don't know what it is, Shepard," Tali chimed in, the small violet light on the front of her envirosuit's helmet blinking on and off as she spoke. "With the Prothean's Cipher in your head you would think whatever this thing is would at least look familiar."

Mordin's attention immediately snapped upwards from his work to Tali's face. "Prothean Cipher? Intriguing."

Morgan couldn't help but sigh and roll her eyes. "He didn't know about that yet. Thanks, Tali."

"Fascinating," the salarian stated, his almond-shaped eyes examining Shepard with newfound interest. "Might be conductive to research if-"

"You can't scan my brain."

Mordin's brow furrowed a bit in disappointment. "Unfortunate. Could have learned so much. No matter, more important tasks at hand, like unlocking relic's purpose. Yes, must investigate further."

With an idle shrug Morgan was about to say her goodbyes for the moment and dismiss her team, but was interrupted by the distinctive sound of one of the doors opening and receding into the wall. With a datapad in hand Miranda Lawson idly scanned the room before directing her attention to Shepard.

"Commander."

"Miss Lawson." It was an oddly impersonal response given how long they've been around each other thus far, but that's just how the pair's exchanges usually went. With a brief nod to the turian leaning to the side of the doorway, a gesture he silently returned in kind, Miranda crossed the room to the assembled group, the high heels of her boots clicking against the metal floor as she did so.

"I've just sent word to the Firewalker cell on your discovery," the operative began, her eyes faintly following the lines of text on her own report as she did so. Her Australian accent made everything she said sound slightly condescending, whether she intended it or not. "We don't have the equipment nor the facilities onboard to analyze the data burst the artifact gave off when you interacted with it, so I've taken the liberty of passing along the date collected by your ground team to it can be properly examined."

The hyperactive salarian interjected himself into the conversation so fast that Shepard didn't even have an opportunity to open her mouth, let alone be cut off in mid-sentence. "Data burst upon interaction? How so? What happened to prompt the response?"

With a slight flick of her hair that seemed to serve no real purpose Miranda looked at Mordin, as in offended by his sudden interruption. "According to her account Commander Shepard touched the artifact and it drastically shrank in size, giving off the data burst-"

"Drastic change in size?" The professor's almond' eyes locked onto Morgan. "How big was artifact to begin with?"

She crossed her arms and shrugged. "I honestly don't know, I didn't exactly get a chance to measure the thing-"

"A rough approximation will suffice," Mordin interjected, the sense of urgency in his voice becoming readily apparent.

"I don't know, roughly the size of the drive core? Probably bigger?"

"And you brought it here?"

"I'm sorry, but what's the problem, exactly?" Garrus stood upright and spoke up for the first time since entering the room.

"Problem? Problem should be obvious! Artifact potentially unstable! Has potential to re-expand to previous size without notice! If kept in this room alone could expand to room boundaries at best, destroying equipment and hampering mission vital research. Expand to original size and rupture bulkheads, perhaps even outer hull at absolute worst!"

Both Miranda and Tali took a few cautious steps back from the lab table. Garrus's silver eyes darted over to the door, which he was suddenly _very_ glad to be close to.

"Are you _kidding me_?" Morgan's facial expression conveyed a mix of panic, concern and general annoyance as she took a step away from the relic and stared at Mordin.

"Of course not! To grim a thing to joke about! Should have been told before. Would have advised it be moved elsewhere for safety reasons."

"You _were_ told," countered Miranda, her condescending tone this time intentional. "I forwarded a copy of my mission report to you as soon as I was done with it."

"Fatal error in judgment on your part. Don't read your reports. No one does." The doctor didn't even look at the annoyed Cerberus operative as he fired back his response. Instead he turned his attention to Shepard. "Recommend immediate transport to larger area for containment. The cargo bay will suffice. For now."

Morgan sighed as she leaned forward to pick up the artifact with both hands. "Fine, we can store this thing below deck until we figure out what to do with it."

"No!" The salarian's sudden panicked response stopped Morgan cold, her tips of her fingers stopping mere centimeters from the orb's surface. "Direct contact with artifact triggered initial response. Such stimulus could do so again."

She didn't even dare to move. "So wait, are saying that we need to move it, but _can't_ move it?"

Mordin briefly inhaled, his hand coming to a rest under his chin. "Not necessarily. Direct contact with organics is ill-advised. Equally as much using some type of apparatus. Will need to find another way. A method that can maintain a safe area around it during transport to prevent response." He thought for a split second before he turned to look at Miranda. "Perhaps biotic field would suffice."

"You _can't_ be serious," she retorted, a look of skepticism crossing her face.

"Quite serious. Biotic field would stabilize equal gravity around artifact will maintaining safe buffer zone during transit to a more desirable location. Seems like best alternative."

With a great deal of caution Morgan slowly moved her hands away from the artifact. "Are you sure that would work?"

"No way to know. Not enough data to know how the artifact will react. Past behavioral patterns suggest it's the best course of action." At this point all eyes in the room were focused on Miranda, who had decided that she really wanted to be somewhere else at the moment. The Cerberus operative closed her eyes tightly and took a breath before taking a careful step forward. Very gingerly she outstretched her right hand, clad in a black leather glove, as she leaned back slightly on her left heel. Her face betrayed her concentration as she cautiously gestured a simple mnemonic, a distinctive sticky blue glow appearing around her hand as she rolled her fingers through the air. With her palm facing upward Miranda slowly brought her fingers upward, as if she was cradling the relic itself in her hand.

The Prothean artifact slowly began to rise from the surface of Mordin's lab table, a distinctive glow of dark energy surrounding it. Deep blue light rolled around the artifact's surface, resembling both smoke and flowing water at the same time. In spite of it, somehow, the orb didn't even bother to mirror the field on its metallic surface.

Miranda breathed deeply, her concentration unwavering. As if she was hesitant to take her eyes off of the object in front of her, she briefly glanced at both Mordin and Shepard. "Alright, now what?"

Mordin quickly made his way to the door leading outwards to the CIC, careful to not bump into Vakarian as he did so. "We relocate the artifact to cargo hold. Less chance of it causing damage there. Necessary to give Miss Lawson a wide berth for safety's sake while doing so." With a quick tap on the holographic interface the lab door opened, retreating into the hull once more. "Shepard, your assistance with the other door?"

Morgan nodded before turning to look at the young quarian behind her. "Tali, go around and take care of the elevator." Taking time for only a quick acknowledgement Tali moved past her and ran through the opposite door, intent on going through the armory to get to the CIC from the other side. While she was doing so Morgan carefully walked around Miranda and sped into the small hallway connecting the Tech Lab with the command area outside. Not wasting any time she quickly ran her fingers along the "buttons" of the holographic controls and opened the door, not hesitating to dash through it and stand to the side the moment it opened.

With her way clear Miranda carefully took a couple steps back, gingerly pulling the artifact through the air towards her as she did so. The object levitated in the air as she walked, moving with her with every step. Miranda maintained her gaze on the artifact, occasionally stealing glances over her shoulder as she walked backwards. With careful step after careful step she slowly retreated from the Tech Lab until she finally emerged from the side hallway onto the main deck. With the elevator in sight the started walking towards it, her long legs taking long yet careful strides.

Tali was already at the elevator doors, her hands darting across the controls to open them as soon as Miranda got close. With beads of sweat rolling down her forehead, possibly from the effort it was taking to keep the field stable or maybe simple nervousness, Miranda stepped into the elevator, careful to keep the artifact a safe distance from the walls. The trio of Morgan, Garrus and Mordin had followed her closely, stopping just at the entrance of the elevator.

"Tali," Morgan began, "go with her and make sure that thing gets put someplace safe." Knowing this wasn't the time to object, the quarian nodded before she stepping into the elevator to join Miranda, backing herself into a corner to keep as much distance between her and the artifact as possible. As the doors snapped close Shepard sighed and turned towards Mordin.

"Call me a pessimist," she began, sarcasm dripping from every word, "but something tells me stashing that thing in the hold isn't going to be enough."

"Correct," the salarian replied. "Experimentation on the artifact here in unwise. Even taking possible re-expansion into account the affects of another pulse on ship's systems are unknown and potentially dangerous. Could possibly disrupt mass effect fields, ship's drive core, shipboard AI, and so on. Too many variables."

Morgan closed her eyes tightly and rubbed the bridge of her nose, her free hand placed against her hip as she did so. "Alright, then what do we do with it?"


	2. Chapter 2

It had taken about half an hour for Joker to turn the Normandy around and head back to Kopis. The ride down to the surface had been an uncomfortable one. Morgan wasn't sure what was worse, the fact that Miranda had to support the artifact in a biotic field on the entire ride down or that, embarrassingly enough, someone had to put her breathing mask on for her because she didn't have a pair of free hands to do it herself.

As soon as they had made landfall Miranda immediately walked the artifact out a solid kilometer away from the Kodiak just to be safe, both Shepard and Mordin following her closely. Upon finding a clear spot in the dirt she gingerly set it down before quickly backing away from it, clearly still weary of what it was capable of. The assembled trio stood there for a moment, side by side, looking at the orb before Morgan finally spoke up.

"So… what now?" Her voice had a slight metallic tinge underlining it thanks to her helmet's radio. The salarian turned to face her, looking through the narrow flit of glass in her helmet that showed her eyes.

"Simple," he began, his voice also faintly distorted by his own breathing apparatus, "we attempt to reproduce original contraction event in reverse to see if it returns to its previous size. Hypothesis is that you somehow compacted it into a form more suited for transport whilst it only functions as intended at full size."

Morgan couldn't help but smirk from behind her helmet. The salarian's response hadn't answered her question at all. "Okay, and how are going to go about doing that?"

Mordin looked from Morgan to the relic on the ground and then back again. "Isn't it obvious? Touch it."

With a scoff that she didn't even bother to hide Morgan crossed her arms. "You want me to touch the potentially dangerous alien artifact that we don't have the slightest idea what it's capable of?"

The professor mirrored Shepard's own scoff. "If questioning judgment its worth noting you did the same thing when first coming across it to begin with. It reacted to that stimulus before, may do so again."

He had a point, she thought. With a heavy sigh Shepard took a step forward and leaned down, a single outstretched finger approaching the artifact's surface. Hesitating, she looked back over her shoulder at Mordin, who simply nodded as if to encourage her. Taking in a nervous breath, Morgan touched the artifact with the tip of an armored glove, expecting the object to re-expand, give off some kind of shockwave or any number of other things.

… and nothing happened.

"Huh." Morgan poked the artifact again, this time less cautiously. It remained in the dirt, apparently oblivious to her presence. She poked it with the tip of her finger a few more times before simply resting her finger on the surface of it, pressing it lightly enough that it gently rolled on the ground a bit. Perplexed, she stood upright, looking at her companions.

"Well, that was anti-climactic."

Mordin tilted his head to the side in confusion before he nudged the artifact with his foot, still failing to provoke any kind of reaction. His interest renewed he crouched down in the dirt, scanning the object with his Omni-Tool. "Hmm, no energy output, no irregular readings. No anomalies of any sort." The salarian took a sharp breath as he arose from the ground. "Artifact appears to be inert."

Morgan groaned. "Are you kidding me? All of that panicking and the damn thing is dead?"

"Panic justified at the time, only unwarranted in retrospect. Had no idea what it was capable of doing, know now. Nothing to be concerned about."

She shook her head and stole a sidelong glance at Miranda, who looked equal parts exhausted and un-amused. "Alright," she began, looking at the orb. "What do we do with it now?"

"Up to you," Mordin replied. "I personally suggest paperweight. Not good for much else." With that parting comment he calmly turned on his heel and began walking back to the shuttle, leaving both Morgan and Miranda where they were.

Miranda looked over her shoulder and ran a hand through her auburn hair in frustration before following him. "What a waste of time."

Morgan looked at the artifact on the ground, thinking for a moment before crouching down to gently cradle it in her hands. Whatever its intended purpose was had apparently been fulfilled when she had first found it, making it little more than a pretty looking rock at this point. With a slight shrug she turned around to join her compatriots, the orb in hand.

At the very least it was nice to look at. She was sure she could find a nice space in her cabin for it somewhere.


End file.
